Out of touch, that is one thing I have never been called. I am a programmer, specifically in the clinical industry. Before that I was in network admin and web admin. I have been working in the IT industry for 20 years. And I have been a serious gamer for longer. So staying in touch, as you say, is part of my job. Outside of work I am a serious gamer, and have some very expensive computers at home, all self built. And in those 20 years, never have I had to work on a Mac, not once. Guess why, because no one uses them. The latest iPod and iPhone craze has turned the company into a growing name in the industry for sure. And they make quality products, but they have been a fringe company that has seen amazing growth over the past few years. While they are growing in use in the American home, and have a large following in the Academic world, they haven't scratched the surface in the business world and in the gaming world. Which is where the real money is, and real market share is. Trust me I am not out of touch as you say, but I am not in the Apple bubble world either. So don't think I will jump on a bandwagon either, because that is all it is. I hope they can keep riding their new found fame, because competition is good in the pc industry.
IBM doesn't make PC's anymore. There is HP then Dell, the Apple that I see. That never was my contention. Only that market share means nothing about a machines capability. Their market share at universities is a lot higher than most places, not only personal computers but in research labs all over campus.
Something similar to what I have done in the past, although we mounted touch screen computers on the walls, or to carts they can wheel around to room to room.
To funny red, its funny how Apple is such a polarizing company. You should work for a newspaper or something, you are good at taking things out of context. Anyway, back to work.
IBM sold off their PC division to lenova, great computers by the way. I don't think anyone would argue that Apple makes a great product. It’s just for some reason Apple people tend to think their place in the market is more important than it really is. While the people that use Apple really love the product, the reverse is true about people that don’t use Apple products. Red do you work on a campus? Apple is huge at many universites, in every department but the computer science department usually. As a matter of fact Academia is where Apple has its largest following.
Yeah for 30 years at LSU, from one giant IBM-360 mainframe on campus to departmental minicomputers, to Sunn and Data General UNIX workstations to PC to Macs and whatever is the latest and greatest. I currently have Windows, UNIX, and MacOS systems running on 20 computers and 8 rack servers in my unit. They each have their uses and. I literally have access to everything from a supercomputer on campus to the souped-up $18,000 Mac on my desk. The macs are our daily workhorses, the only machines that will run applications on all three operating systems simultaneously. And they have the lowest down-time and the longest lifetime-until-obsolescense of any computers we have used and we've used them all. And they need the least attention from system administrators and take less creative time away from my professionals attending mundane system housekeeping tasks that are not required on the Mac. It's why the students use them so much, too. The MacBook is almost ubiquitous on campus for two reasons--Because it's easy to use and powerful and because it networks and interfaces with all of the other lab computers on campus so well. Basically the Mac is a UNIX OS with a Macintosh GUI. UNIX is the system of many science applications and most of the serious programmers and professionals around here prefer it I'm not putting down PC's when I advocate the Mac. But I do object when people suggest the Mac doesn't matter or is a toy, because neither is the case. Nor is Apple a minor player in the computer business. Not by a long shot.
I don't think anyone actually buys comics for their colectibility anymore. My wife won't let me bring anymore into the house. Digital comics readers are something I am really looking forward to. The problem is that most of the books I read are independent and the readers are not developed yet. If an ipad app that stardizes this and makes some of the indy books available comes out I will be shelling out the money at some point.
Never said Macs were toys, I said iPads are toys. It’s great you found a Mac you like, and if it works for you, great. Mac has always had a strong presence in the Academic world. And I understand from your point of view, they are prevalent, but from mine they are not. I don't see how my point of view makes me ignorant like you have tried to say a good many times. And Apple has always had a very strong following. And I think they are seeing some strong growth in personal use due to it. We will see if this popularity of late translate into any further success in other areas, but I would be surprised if it did. You either love Apple or hate Apple from my experience, and that usually stops them from getting used anywhere beyond home. Beyond Academia, Macs have a long way to go. Yes some people may prefer them for personal use, or home use, or school use. They are not used in the Business world for the most part, there are exceptions I am sure, and I am sure there is some companies somewhere were they are used. I haven't heard of any or seen any yet. I am sure I will someday.
I work at an advertising agency and we have about 80% Macs 20% PCs. I have also worked at a magazine publisher that was about the same ratio.
